Hornets at Nuggets
THE STORY: The New Orleans Hornets started out just fine with
life after Chris Paul. They are slowly finding out that life without
Paul’s main replacement, Eric Gordon, is no picnic. The Hornets have
dropped six straight since winning their first two games of the season
as Gordon has watched most of it from the bench with a knee injury.
Fortunately, things are a little busy in New Orleans right now with the
Saints in the playoffs and Monday’s BCS National Championship game
taking the focus off the struggling Hornets for the moment. New Orleans
will try to break its losing streak when it visits the Denver Nuggets on
Monday. The Nuggets are one of the highest-scoring teams in the NBA,
averaging 104 points, but had some major breakdowns on the defensive end
in a 121-117 loss at San Antonio on Saturday.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CST (New Orleans), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE HORNETS (2-6):
New Orleans fell at home to Denver 96-88 on Friday and followed that up
with a loss at Dallas on Saturday. The Hornets are averaging 85 points
during their six-game losing streak and have not been able to match
Gordon’s production with Marco Belinelli at the starting shooting guard
spot. New Orleans coach Monty Williams has gone to a bigger lineup,
starting both Emeka Okafor and Chris Kaman, and is giving more minutes
to Al-Farouq Aminu in an effort to get more production up front.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (6-3):
Denver outscored the Hornets 55-41 in the second half Friday but did
not carry that defensive intensity over to Saturday, allowing the Spurs
to shoot 55 percent. The Nuggets had held their opponents to 86.8 points
during a four-game winning streak that came to an end against San
Antonio. Danilo Gallinari has stepped into the go-to scorers roll for
the team, averaging 16.9 points and going for 20 or more in four of the
last five contests.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Hornets forward Trevor Ariza has missed three straight games with a groin injury. He could play Monday.
2. Denver has taken seven of the last 10 in the series.
3. Nuggets center Nene has sat out three of the last four games with a bruised left heel.